Japanese with anime voice: episode36
Hello, I’m Sachi.
Today is April 22, よい夫婦 (Yoifuufu)’s Day. There are other days for this married couple, November 22 is the other one. November is the day of いい夫婦 (Iifuufu). In hiragana, よい夫婦 (Yoifuufu) and いい夫婦 (Iifuufu) can be distinguished as よい (Yoi) and いい (Ii). But in kanji, they can be read as either よい (Yoi) or いい (Ii). Since the meanings of よい (Yoi) and いい (Ii) are the same, it does not matter which way you read them.
However, saying “いいですね (Iidesune)” and “よいですね (Yoidesune)” have a slightly different feel to the words. よいですね (Yoidesune) is more polite or sometimes more formal than いいですね (Iidesune). If anything, I would say that いいですね (Iidesune) is more casual to use. Well, this is just my feeling.
I had a similar conversation with an online student the other day about how to read kanji. Except for those who are new to studying Japanese, I always have them give a free speech for 3 minutes at the beginning of the lesson. For some students, I transcribe what they have said into a more natural Japanese sentence and read it out loud once during the lesson. I then ask them to read that sentence 30 times a day as homework. So the other day, a student asked me how to distinguish the two ways of reading the kanji 入る (Hairu), はいる (Hairu) and いれる (Ireru). I realized that non-native speakers would certainly not know how to tell them apart. And I told her to judge by 送り仮名 (okurigana). If you don’t know what 送り仮名 (okurigana) is, 送り仮名 (okurigana) is the hiragana that comes after the kanji. However, not all hiragana after kanji become 送り仮名 (okurigana), but only those that combine kanji and hiragana to form words. So, going back to what I said earlier, the 送り仮名 (okurigana) of 入る (hairu) is “る (ru)” and the 送り仮名 (okurigana) of 入れる (Ireru) is “れる (reru)”. This way, you can judge by 送り仮名 (okurigana). But in the case of 入れた (haireta) and 入れた (ireta), the 送り仮名 (okurigana) is the same. It’s really annoying, isn’t it? Really. It’s a problem for those who are studying, but actually, it’s also a problem for those who are teaching.
But the word はいれた (haireta) and the word いれた (ireta) are different. はいれた (haireta) refers to your whole body, and いれた (ireta) refers to a part of your body or something else.
But sometimes we say, “身体いれたらはいった(Karada iretemitara haitta)”. When it comes to colloquialisms, there are all kinds of contradictions, aren’t there? What’s going on? Oh, please don’t do that. Let’s leave the colloquialisms for now, shall we? In the case of a sentence, if a kanji has the same 送り仮名 (okurigana) as はいれた (haireta) and いれた (ireta), please judge it by the sentences before and after.
For example, in the case of はいれた (haireta), ‘大学や会社にはいれた (daigaku ya kaisha ni haireta)’ or ‘空港にはいれた (kuukou ni haireta)’ would be the image of being in it. When it comes to “大学や会社にいれた (daigaku ya kaisha ni ireta)” and “空港にいれた (kuukou ni ireta),” the question becomes, “What did you put in it?”
Conversely, in the case of “いれた (ireta)”, “カバンにいれた (kaban ni ireta)” or “箱にいれた (hako ni ireta)”, there should be a noun in the sentence to indicate what was put in. A book, a wallet, a notebook, a hand, and so on. When you say “カバンにはいれた (kaban ni haireta)” or “箱にはいれた (hako ni haireta),” it means that you are in a bag or a box. It is not so easy to find a situation where a person is in a bag or a box, is it? Well, it may be possible, but it is not a common situation.
In the case of “お風呂にはいれた (ofuro ni haireta)”, you are in the bathtub, and in the case of “お風呂にいれた (ofuro ni ireta)”, it’s about bath salts, children, pets, and so on.
Therefore, if “はいれた (haireta)” or “いれた (ireta)” is written in kanji in a sentence, please look for the noun and judge which way it should be read by looking at the sentences before and after it.
Well, language really becomes more difficult to explain the more you explain it. Especially when you think in terms of colloquialisms, contradictions arise. It’s hard to explain. Don’t you think so? Well, I think the only two kanji with the same okurigana that can be read in two different ways are はいれた (haireta) and いれた (ireta). I explained earlier that the words are different, but either way, the meaning that something is contained is the same. I don’t think it’s necessary to be so particular about how you read it. It is okay as long as the language is understood at the time.
